Former Derby Hopefuls Meet in American Turf

Turf specialists will face off against a couple of horses that were on the Triple Crown trail in the 25^th running of the $300,000 American Turf (gr. IIT) for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles on the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) undercard May 7 at Churchill Downs.

Dressed in Hermes is a three-time stakes winner on the turf in Southern California, most recently in the Pasadena Stakes March 13 at Santa Anita Park. He will do battle with Transylvania Stakes (gr. IIIT) winner Shakhimat, who shook off a five-month layoff to take the Keeneland turf tilt by 3 ¼ lengths.

Airoforce seemed headed to the headline race after scoring in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II) late last year on the Churchill Downs dirt. A 10^th-place finish in this year’s Veterans Ford Risen Star Stakes (gr. II) forced a change in plans, however, and Airoforce moves back to the turf, on which he won the Dixiana Bourbon Stakes (gr. IIIT) last season and ran second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (gr. I).

Frank Conversation, owned and trained by the connections of Derby favorite Nyquist, broke his maiden on the turf last year and then ran a solid third in the Cecil B. Demille Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Del Mar last November. This season, however, Frank Conversation moved to the dirt and won the California Derby and the El Camino Real Derby (gr. III) in succession before an unsuccessful trip to Dubai for the UAE Derby (UAE-II), in which he ran unplaced.

Azar has also been over several surfaces in his career, winning the 2015 With Anticipation Stakes (gr. IIT) on the Saratoga lawn before running unplaced in the Juvenile Turf. This season, he ran second in the Kitten’s Joy Stakes on turf, won an allowance optional claimer on dirt, and missed a neck, running second in the Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes (gr. II) on Polytrack to Oscar Nominated, who runs in the Derby.